High Five for Friday!

It's been awhile since I have done one of these...but I've been following Kate's blog a lot lately, and remembered that she does this every Friday! So...here goes:

1. Father's day is this weekend! I'm looking forward to celebrating with Mike and my dad. We plan to go to a parade on Sunday, and then to the zoo with our little mister, and then will finish the weekend off at a stay in a hotel.

2. I've been on pinterest lately, searching for ideas to keep my little man busy this summer. I have found a lot of good ideas, and have pinned them ALL! I can't wait until we have a warm, sunny day and I can get him outside. Here's the link to my summer pinterest board. PS- while you're there...check out the great recipes too!

3.Yesterday morning, the sun was out and it was a beautiful 55 degrees at about 6:15, so I got up a little early and took Katie for a walk. She's not a great walker, but it sure was nice to breathe in the fresh air!

4. Naps. I have taken 2 naps already this week! That's all.

5. I bought some poppers at walmart this week for little mister to play with...and he LOVED them! His laugh totally cracked me up, and boy is he sure looking old. Where did my tiny baby go???

I'm linking up over here this week!

I swear...I have good intentions...

Seriously. I do have good intentions and make a goal/plan to blog at least 3 times per week. Rarely does that happen...until I get the itch to start blogging again. So it's been about 4 months since the last one, and here I am. Lets see how long it will last this time! :)

I have started with Money Saving Mom's 30-day house cleaning challenge. That means that after 30 days, I will have a PERFECTLY cleaned house! Ha...not. BUT I'm hoping that it will give me motivation to keep my house clean...you know...in case anyone decides to drop by unexpectedly. Then I won't be embarassed!

Day one: kitchen and living room
This went ok...it took me three days to thoroughly clean my kitchen. Not that it was THAT dirty...I just had to keep washing the dishes before I could wipe down the counter. I have found though that if I keep my dishes washed every night, that it is absolutely wonderful to wake up and come downstairs in the morning. I actually feel like cooking breakfast!
Here's what I did:
Washed the dishes
Wiped down the counters
Wiped off the stove
What I still need to do:
Sweep and wash the floor (as I write this...my child is throwing his lunch on the floor... :))
Clean out the fridge and wipe everything down...including the outside

Day 2: Bathroom
Easy, easy, easy. I clean my bathroom once a week anyway...so it just needed a good wipe down.
Here's what I did:
Wiped down the sink
Cleaned the toilet
Cleaned shower
Swept and washed the floor
Cleaned mirror
What I still need to do:
Wash the rug that goes into the bathroom...but today is laundry day!

Day 3: Bedroom
Yikes. This day did not go well. Our room looks like we moved in a week ago...we still have boxes in there, unpacked, from when we moved!
Here's what I did:
Picked up dirty clothes
Dusted
What I still need to do:
Wash sheets
Vacuum
Organize/go through boxes
Wipe windows and TV

It seems like a lot, but I try to do a few minutes here and there through out the day.
I will TRY to post an update later, with pictures!

I'm stealing this

One of my aunties has a blog over here where she talks about life and the adoptions of their sweet kiddos. Lately, she has been sharing once a week (I think?) a list of things that she's thankful for...and I decided that I would steal her idea. So, here's the first edition.

1. Snow
2. Warm fleece blankets
3. A washer and dryer in the house
4. Food in my freezer
5. Blogs that share information on what I'm interested in
6. New babies all around me!
7. Warm Christmasy drinks
8. Family
9. Baked goods
10. Oreos
11. Laughter throughout my house
12. People who get up in the middle of the night to plow/put sand on the roads so that it's safer for me when I drive to work!
13. Pictures of my little mister every few months
    

 

I'm hoping to remember to do this weekly, so that I can remember to count my blessings :)

That was an interesting start to the day...

You know those days...when you wake up and then want to go straight back to bed, just so that you can start the day over? Yeah...that's today. Unfortunately, I'm not able to go back to bed, but I know that I can choose to start the day over in my own mind. Here's how it started:
-Woke up with an awful headache. I must have slept wrong, because it was all the way into my neck, and then kind of wrapped around.
-Walked downstairs and saw the pile of dishes...worst feeling ever.
-Got the little mister up, and breakfast into the oven (hey, that's a good thing, right?!)
-Played for a bit, and then decided that it was time to get Katie up and outside. Here's where things REALLY went wrong.
-Got my coat on, and had the leash in my hand, because we have to be very quick with her in the morning, otherwise she will go all over the floor.
-Walked into her room, and let her out. She TORE out of her kennel, and ran into the living room....but was quickly stopped when she tripped over a cord that's connected to Mike's x-box. This led to the x-box falling onto the floor, and on it's way down it knocked down all sorts of "junk" that we have sitting near the TV. She then ran around our Christmas tree...luckily that didn't fall over.
-Next, as I was quickly cleaning things up, I saw that she had peed all over the couch. AGAIN! I don't know what it is about our couch that makes her want to pee all over it, but COME ON!
-Then she laid in it.
-SO! I quickly ran her outside, came in and put her back into her kennel (poor girl...) so that I could clean up the mess. (Any good tips on cleaning a couch with this sort of mess?)
-In a little bit, I will need to get her out and give her a bath...

Good thing I'm not going to work today...seems like I have my work cut out for me right at home today! :s

A little project

When I was pregnant with my little mister, I was reading through the Karen Kingsbury, Baxter family series. A verse that kept coming up over and over was: Jeremiah 29:11- For I know the plans that I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
I couldn't help think about this tiny life that I had growing inside of me, and how the Lord has a perfect plan for him. No one except for God knows this plan, and of course it will be scary at times, but I can put my faith in God, because he will not harm my child and promises to give him a beautiful life.
One day, I was thinking about how I would incorporate this verse into his nursery...the room is very small, and I wasn't sure that I wanted to write it on the wall. So instead, I chose to write it on his crib. Here's how it turned out.

All I did was write the verse in pencil, that way I made sure that it fit and I liked how the writing looked. After that, I took a small paint brush and some paint that was close to the color of his room and traced over it. SO simple!

Tator Tot Hot Dish

Here is our house, we love comfort foods. You know, those foods that make you feel all warm and fuzzy? Things that your mom used to make when it was cold outside...or Thanksgiving foods! I had completely forgotten about this post, until I saw it when I uploaded pictures! Today, I'm sharing my super simple, one pot meal...tator tot hotdish!

Here's what you need:
ground beef (1-2 lbs)
1 bag of frozen mixed veggies
1 bag of tator tots
1/4 C Butter (or oil)
1/4 C Flour
3-4 C chicken stock (you could also use beef!)

 See how yummy that looks?

First, you want to brown the hamburger in a cast iron skillet. Then, drain off the grease. Add in your butter, and let it melt. Then add in the flour. Stir this until it's combined and then let it cook for a minute or two longer. Next, slowly stir in the chicken broth, until you get the consistency that you like. Add in the frozen veggies. At this point, you may need to add in some more chicken stock, because the veggies will make the gravy thicken up a bit. After that, you can throw on the tator tots...OR you can arrange them in a nice, and pretty way like I did.

:) The design could also be because I have a small amount of OCD in me...

Now, I did not realize how the lighting was on EITHER of these pictures was until I put them on here...but I suppose they will still work! I love this recipe...mainly because it's so easy, and I don't have to use cream of anything soup. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

Slump.

I've been in a slump-y mood when it comes to food lately. Mostly I just want to eat junk food, and baked goods, and carbs...but this week that is going to change! We're going to be finishing up our leftovers from Thanksgiving, and here's what I plan to eat this week:

Guacamole
fresh pineapple
hummus
quinoa for lunch AND breakfast!
kiwi
apples
carrots with dip
homemade yogurt
chicken tacos, loaded with veggies
salads
bean and cheese, whole wheat quesadillas (I'm totally going to make my own tortillas...I will fill you in later!)
Roasted chickpeas
bananas
sweet potatoes
squash
and a few bags of frozen veggies

I'm working on planning my weekly meal list...throw some suggestions my way!